Political parties are damaging American politics
Political parties are bad for American politics.
For justification of this, a person needs only to look to one of the greatest founding fathers.
In his farewell address, President George Washington said, “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”
Political parties encourage the separation of our country, rather than unity under a democracy. Politicians almost spend more time opposing their rivals than attempting to come up with smart solutions to important or controversial problems.
Although there is somewhat a solidarity within each party, having multiple parties encourages segregation within the US as a whole, rather than a sense of solidarity within the whole country.
Additionally, people are forced to choose between radical Democrats and radical Republicans, rather than people with varying ideals. This limits the appeal of the President to the people, which also encourages separation rather than unity in our country.
Lastly, having multiple parties makes America’s political system inefficient. Bills take much longer to pass because politicians are more focused on opposing each other and keeping their own popularity than on coming to a reasonable compromise.
True agreement within our country will probably never happen. People will always have different opinions regarding everything, especially politics. However, having the same two dominant parties every single election limits the free-thinking of potential voters.
The current political parties in America are causing strong dissent when there should be more unity in our country. Having the same parties always butting heads makes our political system inefficient.
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Charlie Mathias • Apr 5, 2016 at 1:16 pm
I agree that political parties are destroying America, especially the establishment-hating right. I used to side as a Republican, but with the fact that Donald Trump is the frontrunner of the party, and that people hate the people they elect, it speaks all for itself. I believe that Marco Rubio was the last hope for any sanity and power in the Republican Party. As a conservative, I still support him. I will not let myself be defined by party in ruin. I stand for principles, not parties or corrupt politicians. I would never vote for Trump, Clinton, Sanders, or even Biden. I would however vote for people who are true at heart, and don’t need party support tom be good people, like Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Paul Ryan, ETC. The so called “establishment” is not the problem, its the radicals that are the problem.
Alex Feyerherm • Apr 5, 2016 at 3:37 pm
The establishment is pretty much the entire problem. The two parties have become so big, powerful, and corrupt that an ordinary person’s say in democracy has been marginalized. Few politicians are actually beholden to the constituency that voted them into office, but the mega-rich donors and special interests that help them stay in power. When an organization is paying your campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars to vote a certain way, it’s awfully hard to compromise and get things done – that is the problem with 95% of our congress. They all have their big donors to keep happy, so they have the funds to get re-elected in the fall. Not exactly “radical” to oppose that kind of corruption.
Landon Crispin • Apr 5, 2016 at 9:19 am
Political parties and their clashing is pretty unnecessary, I can agree, but there is one thing that needs to be understood. Political parties aren’t all that bad in reality. Without them, there is no change, there is no voice of reasoning. If we all possessed the same belief, there would be no right from wrong, no sense of understanding. We would all think the same.
Now, a lot of politicians in D.C. do clash for money and support like the presidential candidates in the election season. People are not nice. Politics is not nice. America is not nice. And that’s one thing that takes understanding. We’re never going to agree. But with organized groups and establishments, people can attempt to work together to build a better nation.
Just in reference to the article, I think the conclusion that people either have to choose between radical Republicans or Democrats is completely invalid. There are people called moderates that have mixed opinions. And then of course you have the Independents that are thinking for themselves.